Who: Ford Heights Weekend Workshop
What:
Ford Heights was first incorporated in 1949, a fairly late point in time compared to its neighboring towns. Its first inhabitants had squatted on swampy ground adjacent to the town of Chicago Heights, near a Ford Motors stamping plant that supplied the tax base for the new town. In the 1950s or early 60s, the stamping plant was rezoned to fall within Chicago Heights, leaving Ford Heights with little funding for its schools and other town services.
As flooding of Deer Creek, one of myriad small waterways cutting through the Calumet corridor, has increased over the past decade and homes have been affected, the town has seen 50% population loss. Despite its fragile economic and demographic status, however, it is part of the Lincoln Highway Corridor Strategic Plan, a transportation development plan based around a freight rail line that runs through Ford Heights. It was recently chosen by CMAP (Chicago Metropolitan Association for Planning) to be the subject of a comprehensive urban plan, to include environmental management, economic development and future goals.
Building on collaborations in 2017 and 18, this weekend workshop will pair UIC Urban Planning Students with Sustainability Management (Columbia University) and Landscape Architecture (IIT) students to visit, learn about, analyze and brainstorm opportunities for Ford Heights according to three possible scenarios: embracing shrinkage, restoring growth or reinventing the city as a hub for the kind of ecosystems and infrastructural services that can make the region more resilient to climate-driven and other disruptions.
Your work is an opportunity for creative, integrative thinking about how green architecture and infrastructure can offer civic benefit to Ford Height’s current and future residents.
Please contact Moira Zellner mzellner@uic.edu or Lynnette Widder lw268@columbia.edu to register and for questions. Commitment is required by October 1st.
Tentative Schedule:
Friday, October 4, 2019
8:30 AM
Meet at 8:30 AM at Metropolitan Planning Council 140 S Dearborn St #1400, Chicago, IL 60603 (meet in lobby) for presentations by Justin Keller (Metropolitan Planning Council), Moira Zellner (University of Illinois Chicago); attend the MPC’s monthly meeting of government agencies, communities and contractors active in the Calumet Corridor.
11:30 AM Travel to Midlothian for a tour of its resiliency
projects (personal vehicle)
1:30 PM Arrival at Ford Heights; lunch at Town Hall
2:00 PM Site visit with Ernestine Beck-Fulgham (FH
town consultant)
3:30 PM Group working and brainstorming session,
Ford Heights
7:30 PM Dinner in Blue Island, Ill.; return to Chicago
Saturday, October 5, 2019
9:30 AM
Convene at workspace at IIT, Crown Hall; group work and consultations with professors
1:00 PM
Working lunch at IIT
4:30 PM Presentation of findings and proposals to
Professors and guests
6:30 PM Group dinner and reception at nearby
restaurant; dismissal
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